I hate house fires.... Who doesn't right? Not
newsworthy, probably not even blog-worthy. Which leads to my point. Why are
house fires considered news?
Consider this... Networks get to broadcast the
news for free. This opportunity was afforded because the thought was a democracy
should/must have a free press. That free press needs a vehicle to report its
finding to the public. And by giving time to networks without cost there
wouldn't be any need to commercialize news for profit. This will insure adequate
checks and balances, leading to an informed democracy, and an informed democracy
is the best democracy.
Noble concept, however somewhere along the way,
networks decided to add “ human interest stories” to the news rundowns. The
masses subsequently responded favorably. This was the tipping point. Now news is 95% human
interest and 5% news. Sure murders, suicides, robberies, abductions, car chases are all
terrible, but are they news?
I use house fire as the example because it's the
most egregious. A house fire affects one singular family, and that by definition
can't be news. There has to be more than a handful of stake-holders for
something to be considered newsworthy. Terrible YES. News NO. Yet and still, it's being broadcast as news.
If you think about it... A house fire is
equivalent to a house flood. It's leaves the families home uninhabitable, the
family destitude, and in dispair. Yet I have never seen a news story about a
singular house flooding.
When I moved to Atlanta I wanted to be part of the
community, and learn more about my new city, so I subscribed to the Atlanta
Journal Constitution newspaper. I quickly unsubscribed when I “learned” that
local High School football passes for front page (above the fold) news in this
neck of the woods.
I applaud people like Aaron Sorkin, and HBO who
created, developed, and aired a TV show about the NEWS. “Newsroom” was a great
TV show, that unfortunately only aired 3 seasons. Sorkin has a deep and profound
appetite for truth, and he knows that most of the world has lost it's taste for
serious worldly subject matter. It's sad.
He, like I, understand that news is a zero sum game. If
murders, and house fires are being reported then more serious matter are not.
The news should be important to our highest selves
not our human base. Human interest is good, but just because something is
interesting to the public doesn't mean it is in the PUBLIC'S INTEREST.
